I was asked this question on Twitter: “Should we be speaking as a business, or as the people using the accounts?” Here’s my thoughts for you to consider.
Posting and commenting occur regularly on social media. When a business uses Twitter, special considerations come into play. The following comments are meant to be general in nature. If you want to ask me a more specific question, please feel free to do so.
When more than one person gets involved on one account, and the account is being used for business, the people posting should be identified. The whole point of this is to avoid confusion among those reading.
This blog post will focus on Twitter and using Twitter for business. When a Twitter account has more than one person posting, it should be noted that more than one person is posting. The posters should be identified with a handle or tag; so that readers will know who has posted what.
The @AlphaSMInc and @4JeffBrown Twitter accounts have two people posting on them. The Twitter backgrounds have two pictures of the people who are posting. They also have a handle or tag posted underneath each picture. The bio also mentions that there are two people tweeting.
When Sam Brown posts, she identifies herself with a “^SB” tag. When I post, I identify myself as “^JB”. This becomes more important when answering questions or commenting on tweets. People need to know who is answering, especially when they may be reaching out to a specific person.
The plan for my company is this: Sam will monitor the @4JeffBrown account. She will post when necessary to help me out, but will identify when she does. Everything else will by me. When it comes to the @AlphaSMInc account, we will each self identify. That’s the plan. As the business has become busier and harder to monitor, these steps have become necessary. I don’t want people posting as me, pretending to be me. Full disclosure is important.
As far as posts that are general in nature, like quotes, or links to interesting information, tagging links is not as important. But when in doubt, a tag can be used to avoid any confusion.
So in answer to the above question, a business should first of all have a separate Twitter account. People should have their own separate Twitter account for their own personal use. Personal accounts can be used throughout the years. Who knows, Twitter might replace email accounts one day.
Secondly, general posts can be labeled with a tag or not in a business Twitter account. Specific posts, comments or answers should be tagged so that readers will know who put the tweet out.
Thirdly, many companies actually have a community manager who speaks on behalf of the company. This individual is identified to the readers. Some companies have more than one. In this case, tags are used to let people know who is speaking.
In conclusion, a business should try to get it’s business name for the Twitter account. Then it should let the readers know who is tweeting on behalf of the business. This will help build trust and recognition. When moving forward, one should keep in mind the previously mentioned points.
I hope this post will help you plan your business Twitter account and set it up for success. Remember that full disclosure is important. Faking people out is not good. If you get found out, it will not go well with you.
